Newspapers / The Pilot (Southern Pines, … / Aug. 24, 1961, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of The Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
w < % ♦ Page TWO THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 1961 ILOT Southern Pines North Carolina “In taking over The Pilot no changes are contemplated. We will try to keep this a good paper. We will try to make a little money for all concerned. Wherever there seems to be an occasion to use our influence for the public good we will try to do it. And we will treat everybody alike.”—James Boyd, May 23, 1941. Traffic: No. 1 Child Killer With schools about to open it’s in order to point out that traffic in recent years has become the No. 1 killer of school-aged youngsters, surpassing in threat any disease or other kind of accident. In North Carolina every fourth person killed on the highways last year was a child or teenager, according to records of the Department of Motor Vehicles. A complexity of factors, acting to gether, produce a traffic accident. The factors themselves have been endlessly publicized by safety authorities: disre gard of traffic laws, carelessness, discour tesy. Therefore, one of the most difficult barriers confronting greater traffic safety is public apathy—the failure of people to recognize that traffic protection is a mut ual responsibility for all. It becomes a question of unremitting importance as school opens and streets and highways are crowded with young sters. Under such conditions there can be Money Can’t Buy Such Advertising Hosting travelers and visitors—a matter of prime importance in the Sandhills— is the subject of an editorial reprinted on this page. Most of the points are not new (a Host School has been conducted in Southern Pines and we have frequently pointed out the importance of an inform ed, cooperative and interested attitude toward strangers), yet we think they bear repeating as much as our hotels, clubs, motels and other facilities will bear their annual refurbishing in anticipation of the travelers’ influx in the Fall. In a recent publication, the Travel Council of North Carolina points out that the state paid $10,849 for a full-color, one- page advertisement in the June issue of Holiday magazine, to attract the attention of upward of three million Holiday read ers. Yet on another page of that same issue was an excerpt from a letter of Holiday’s food editor who was touring the; nation “not only tasting and testing but also shrewdly observing the Ameri can scene”—a letter that related the spontaneous hospitality of a Tar Heel motel operator and his wife on a morning The letter, points out the Travel Coun cil Bulletin, cost North Carolina nothing in money: “More and more it is apparent that one of North Carolina’Is greatest travel assets is the friendliness of its people. It can’t be emphasized enough that friendliness to guests pays dividends over and over in word-of-mouth advertis ing that money can’t buy.” There is a lesson here for all of us in the Sandhills, one of North Carolina’s top recreation and vacation areas. Anybody for Indian Excavating? Hobbies are wonderful—diverse and improbable beyond belief. Nothing de lights us more than finding somebody puttering under the influence of some odd enthusiasm. And this is no reflection on conventional hobbies which are wonder ful, too. The interest, the caring, the taking pains, the being wrapped up in something—that’s what counts. Hobbies have all kinds of repercussions. Somebody, fussing with something, may discover a real value, may add to human knowledge. Hobbies have terrific enter-, tainment and educational values. Did you ever see anything nicer than some old fellow who has a real knowledge of some subject—birds or horses or local history —expoimding his lore to a bunch of youngsters. This is the opposite of the way the world ends, which we have heard so much about Idtely. This is the way the world prospers and thrives—through the passing down of knowledge, enthusiasm and joy. Take this archeology business, for in stance. How many of ’The Pilot’s several thousand readers are interested in arche ology? Yet we think it’s important news, and we’ve handled it prominently, that an officer at Fort Bragg is making exca vations of an Indian burial mound near the Cape Fear River and is enthusiastic about having persons in this area joining the Archeological Society of North Car olina (before the officer wrote The Pilot a letter, spurred by his enthusiasm, we didn’t know there was such an organiza tion). A group including persons from Moore County has had one meeting and has scheduled another in September. Who can say to what this amateur interest will lead? But it is certain that it will lead to more happiness, a more satisfac tory life for the people concerned. Questions, questions—by these does mankind advance. The questioning man is the caring man, the man who keeps civilization alive. And hobbyists invari ably are questioners. It’s a cast of mind that holds good, that bears fruit, in the ordinary affairs of life. H. Cloyd Philpott Momentous Decisions The Pilot joins in mourning the sud den and unexpected death of North Car olina’s lieutenant governor, H. Cloyd Phil pott of Lexington. He was part and parcel of the best in the state—that segment of the state’s leaders and citizenry who look to the future, not the past, and who recognize the inevitability of change. Expected to be a candidate for gover nor in 1964, Cloyd Philpott no doubt was looking forward to his years of greatest service to his state, when he was struck down. Those who looked forward with him are grieved and shocked. The im memorial frailty of existence is brought home in this tragic death of a man ap parently in the prime of life. The lieutenant governor left a legacy of what might be called “Good Tar Heel- ism”: independence of thought and action, permeated by a conscience awake to human needs. Witness his espousal of better education, his support for a state minimum wage law (though many of his industrialist associates oppose it) and a generally open-minded, fair approach to the problems of his time in a changing South. His career in public service—^to his city, county and state—remains an in spiration and challenge to officials and private citizenry. Momentous decisionsi are being made by thousands of North Carolinians these days—^not the sort of decisions you will see reported in the news, but nevertheless decisions that will affect the quality of Tar Heel life for decades to come. The decisions? They are whether a young person will return to school this year, or whether he will drop out, to continue working or take a job that, for the moment, appears more attractive than the effort, discipline and lack of income that school offers. Parents, friends and everyone close to young people about to make a decision on dropping out of school would do them and the state the biggest favor possible if they encourage them to continue their education. “There are fewer and fewer worth while opportunities for the unskilled and poorly educated in our increasingly tech nological society,” points out State Labor Commissioner Frank? Crane. His advice to young people is: “Go back to school and stay imtil you graduate.” We have never yet heard anyone, in any walk of life, complain that he had too much education. Yet we have heard persons who left school too early express ing bitter regrets in later years. Momentous decisions, indeed! “This Maneuver Is Only Aimed At Keeping Out Those Capitalist Spies!” LWKRU/V'J 1 BORDER no tolerance of the careless, indifferent driver. Nor can there be any let-up in safety instruction for yoimgsters in the home and in their classrooms. A responsibility for parents is constant safety education in the home, teaching youngsters safe practices in walking to and from school and when in traffic. For teachers, it’s a continuation and re-emphasis of parental safety instruc tions, carried out faithfully through the school day. And for motorists, it’s a sober reali zation that children are unpredictable, re quiring a deliberate reduction of speed in school and residential areas and a con stant awareness that children are near. If parents and the schools fulfull their duties by drilling safety habits as a sixth sense into our youngsters and if motorists learn to protect children, there’s little doubt that in time we can bring this killer under control. And the time to start is now. M dxrring one of last winter’s unfortunate sleet storms. This food editor, who is evidently a very particular sort of person about food, was charmed with the hot, strong coffee, fresh-baked biscuits and honey that were served to him and his wife, gratis, by the motel operator’s wife, while the motel man removed a half-inch of ice from his car’s windshield and otherwise made the travelers feel that life was worth living that morning in, as the editor put it, “a small town in North Carolina that looked as dismal as a labor camp in Irkutsk.” •SC, COURTESY. COMFORT. GOOD FOOD How To Boost Tourist Industry From The Asheville Times Tourism is North Carolina’s third largest industry and lead ing figures in it are doing their utmost to make it bigger and bet ter Hargrove Bowles, Jr., direc tor of the state’s Department of Conservation and Development, has been stressing the vital itn- Rortance of good food, first class accommodations and superior at tractions. .He urges that all those in this industry do all they can to help build a better North Car olina image to improve the travel business. Poor cooking in public eating places in some spots in the state is reported to have hurt North Carolina’s travel business. The N. C. Travel Council is endeavor ing to make a frontal attack on this problem through the Host School program. Advertising is not a cure-all in the tourist business. Without it, good accommodations are at a considerable disadvantage in a highly competitive industry, but advertising is no substitute for accommodations, food and attrac tions that are as good or better at prices competitive with other resorts. Both people and conven tions are going where they will find, or think they will find, the best bargain. When and where we offer that and advertise it ade quately, says Mr. Bowles, we are going to get business. In this connection we must never forget the vital importance of the little things in dealing with the touring public, like common courtesy. We have a priceless as set in the natural friendliness of Tar Heels. Add adequate facili ties and easy-to-get basic infor mation to this friendliness and w.i have an unbeatable combination. There has been much emphasis on the so-called “smokestack in dustry” in North Carolina but few people have realized that the travel industry is one of the best devices for attracting manufac turing industry. The Asheville area has demonstrated the effec tiveness of that formula for many years now. Get people to visit our vacation attractions, and you may be sure they will find industrial and retirement living attractions here, too. Mr. Bowles sums the situation up this way: A View from the Mayfield (From The Chapel Hill Weekly!) A great traveling breeze lofts proudly along from hill to hill, deeply but unhurriedly stirring the upper branches of tall old trees. At the edge of the field there is no breeze. The air is a little sultry under the grey sky. But at the top of the hill the moving air is almost visible, like a gusty guest of honor moving cooly through a crowd, branches swirl- .ing around like eddies of admir ers. The baler comes by, chugging and clankling, cramming mown hay into its maw with great sabre teeth and miractilously dropping a neat oblong of pressed grass in its wake every so often. The man on the tractor pulling the baler looks from the trail of hay enter ing the metal mouth to the ground ahead and back to the baler, then quickly up at the sky, which is gently implying rather than force fully threatening rain. The baler makes a grinding noise and the man slows the trac- Lament for the Vanished Washline Of all the things there used to be that have gone out in this age of technology and easy-come, easy-go, one of the most missed by many survivors of a simpler tim.a is the sight of the clothes that used to hang on the line in the back yard, drying. The clothesline and the display of the weekly wash used to be univer sal, just as beating rugs, the reg ular visit of the ice man, the street sprinkling wagon, and beans and brownbread of Satur day night used to be universal. About all we have left of the old, old customs is going for the mail. This is, obviously, the best possible way of getting mail— right from the postoffice—and one hopes it will not be su perseded. In cities, where mail is delivered by carriers, the post- office loses its social and commu nity character. Perhaps some of the deficit might be eliminated if city people could go for their own mail, and if there were counters where they could buy jelly beans or popor crackers—nothing more modern or competitive than such. As to the wash on the line, it vanished by degrees. First there were people who built drying yards. The drying yard was an institution founded as a rule on secretlveness and not on aesthe tics—for what could be a more cheering touch to a sunny day than a spick and span clean white sheet, the pink, yellow and blue dresses, the muscular union suits, and so on! Hardly had the prim exclusive ness of the drying yard taken over than the automatic washer came in, and then the automatic dryer. Efficiency and convenience entered, but one of our folkways departed. Now we have sails against the blue sea and, occa sionally sails drying in the back yard, but we have no wash swing ing in sobriety or satire on the line. I —The Vineyard Gazette EXPERIENCE We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it—and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again —and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore. —MARK TWAIN tor for a moment until the ma chine gets its innards realigned, then slips it into gear again. He waves, briefly, not as friend to fi'iend—he is a stranger—or as farmer to farmer, but simply as human to human in a hayfield, man on tractor to man standing nearby. Th^ baler moves on, dis gorging giant bricks of hay. Behind the baler comes another tractor, very slowly, drawing an old truckbed rolling on the truck’s original rear wheels. Two men stand on the truckbed and stack the bales of hay a third man, wearing thick gloves and smoking a cigar, lifts from the ground and hands up as the rig creeps past. The tractor is driven one-handed by a fat man with his right arm in a sling. They stop a hundred yards away while the baler makes another circuit of the field. The driver leans on his steering wheel, the two young men on the truck- bed lean on the high stack of bales, and the man with the cigar sits on a bale on the ground. They talk, but the breeze carries their words away across the County. The baler comes by again. The tractor starts its plodding way among the dropped hay bales. One of the young men jumps down and walk^ ahead. As they pass, he waves. Then the driver waves. Then the man with the cigar waves, a brief flagging of the arm. The fourth man does not wave, and one wonders why. The whole entourage draws off toward the other end of the long field, the sounds of motors grow ing fainter. The high breeze bounds along, brushing branches out of its way, and the sky grows greyer. In the distance, the green, undulant hills look exactly like the surface of Earth. Grains of Sand General Hartel A name in the news lately has been familiar to a number of Sandhills residents. Brig. Gen. F. O. Hartel, who commands U. S. troops in Berlin, lived in Pine- hurst, occupying the house now owned by Brig. Gen. Albert L. Sneed, in 1945-46, while General Hartel, then a lieutenant colonel, was at Fort Bragg. General Hartel, his wife and three daughters are remembered with interest and affection by a number of Sandhills people, some of whom have kept in touch with them through the years. Mr. and Mrs. E. G. B. Riley of Knollwood called the matter of General Har tal’s residence here to our atten tion. Kays Gary, Charlotte Observer staff writer who has been in Ber lin recently, mentioned General Hartel in one of his columns. Homesick “The basic purpose of the state advertising program is to create and maintain a true image of North Carolina thr,oughout the nation. To marvelous scenery, we are adding comfortable quarters and conveniences, and we are im plementing the natural friendli ness of our people and their in stinctive courtesy to visitors by providing them with the essential information about their state— and their industry—to enable them to make their courtesy more useful to newcomers and profit able to themselves.” The Pilot has a note from Alice Anne Gamble of Memphis, Tenn., daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Gamble who moved with their family from Southern Pines to Memphis early this year. Alice Anne is a student at Mercer Uni versity, Macon, Ga., .entering, if we are not mistaken, her junior year. “Having been away from South ern Pines for two years, being in school and now being permanent ly away because of moving to Tennessee, I realize how much I miss it,” she writes. Alice Anne enclosed a five- stanza poem she had written, “Ode to Southern Pines,” which expresses her sentiments on the matter. We haven’t room for the whole poem, but the last stanza sums up its message: “No, you’ll never know till you’ve been away. Where you heart desires to ever stay. It’s this little place amidst the trees, With a warm heart and a cooling breeze: Southern Pines.” The Gambles’ address is 3654 Walnut Grove Rd., Memphis 11, Tenn. Thanks, Alice Anne, for' your letter and we hope you’ll be able to get back for a visit some time. Hopeful Example A news story datelined Dunn says that general insecticide spraying in the town has been curtailed “because of complaints of asthma sufferers that it has made their condition worse.” Oh, happy Dunn! Breathing good clean air again! Would that the same could be said of South ern Pines! What Is It? August is the month tradition ally producing stories of strange creatures and so forth—a slow time in the news, inspiring some reporter to stir up interest with a tall tale. Witness the “Loch Ness Monster” stories that used to come out of Scotland regularly about this time of year. So, down near Whiteville now they have a “rab-cat”—a nine- inch-long animal with the head and front quarters of a cat and the tail and back quarters of a rabbit. The animal’s front feet have cat claws, its back feet have rab bit-type paws. It hops like a rab bit and sits up like one. It was wild but was caught and caged and seems about to be domesti cated. The Hamlet News-Messenger ran a photo of it, borrowed from a Lumberton paper which got the story from Whiteville, and it is the strangest looking thing we’ve ever seen. Any Pilot reader ever hear of such a phenomenon? The PILOT Published Every Thursday by THE PILOT. Incori>orated Soulhern Pines. North Carolina 1941—JAMES BOYD—1944 Katharine Boyd Editor C. Benedict Associate Editor Dan S. Ray Gen. Mgr. C. G. Council Advertising Mary Scott Newton Business Mary Evelyn de Nissoff Society Composing Room Dixie B. Ray, Michael Valen, Ja?- per Swearingen, Thomas Mattocks and James E. Pate. Subscription Rates Moore County One Year $4.00 Outside Moore County One Year $5.00 Second-class Postage paid at Southern Pines, N. C. Member National Editoriad Assn, and N. C. Press Assn.
The Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 24, 1961, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75